NAILS, TOUGH GUYS, GRIT & CHARACTER

M

mchin

Member
To the team,

This season has been a challenge on and off the court. Hang tight, New York Loves You! You are growing before our eyes and you will only get stronger every day!!! You are handling the adversity like MEN and we Love it! There will be some Big East losses this year, but get stronger and better. Brighter days are ahead!!!


What you've been through and are going through -

- Part of a reloaded roster (actually only half full do to circumstances!)
- A completely new team (99% of scoring gone??)
- 5 New Starters
- 3 top recruits not cleared by the NCAA even though they attended an accredited institution and did the work they thought they were supposed to do (Not close to this but this made no sense. Rules are rules, so I don't understand what happened here. This looks like a case of admin pencil pushers not know kids lives are at stake. If something is wrong with an institution (their summer school) it needs to be dealt with at that level, not with the kids. Makes me furious reading about what happened. I don't have the details, but this isn't passing the smell test.)
- Decommitments from Pelle and Sampson (hopefully Sampson is back in the fold, sad that Pelle won't make it if true; MAJOR props to Amir for toughing it out!!!)
- Lindsay leaving. Don't know the story here but wish he would have worked through the season. Losing a key cog on an undermanned team wasn't good. In the long run it may work out because Branch saw an opening (Welcome to the bright nights Mr. Branch!).
- Decommitments from Woods and Gathers. These hurt a lot but hopefully they come back to the fold. 2012 could still be VERY SPECIAL with you!
- Now, the big elephant in the room. Coach's health. The fact that coach's cancer has set him back from being on the sidelines is a HUGE hit. No one can deny it. It was reported during the season last year that the cancer was identified but doctor's were ok with him going through the season. Thanks Coach for giving it your all last year and giving last year's kids a ride to the NCAA's. Maybe to your own detriment?? To those judging his character I think they are full of it. I don't know the whole story but I'm sure he had options that would have taken him of the bench last season too. To say he doesn't care about his team is CRAZY in my mind. Some have questioned Coach's integrity. I think that is VERY UNFAIR. I think those who have been affected by cancer or know someone with cancer understand that it is very serious but can be managed very well with today's medical advancements. You can be diagnosed as going really well one second and can take a sudden 360 the next. He has excellent Doctors and that's all you can ask for in this situation. Coach is not the expert on Cancer, but has experts advising him. Am thankful that he has had a SUCCESSFUL surgery and hope to have him on the sideline's for the next 20 years. Plenty of Coach's, Friends and Family have been through this. It isn't easy, but it can be beaten. UCONN Coach Calhoun seems to be doing just fine and just got a national title to boot. Coach is on the recruiting trail continuing to build a team for his players, for St John's, for New York. 2012 is the year in my mind and I bet it is in his. Sure he can't wait to get on the sideline, whether it be at the end of this season or the beginning of next.

This has been a long diatribe, but just wanted to say thanks to the current and future team. 
 
To the team,

This season has been a challenge on and off the court. Hang tight, New York Loves You! You are growing before our eyes and you will only get stronger every day!!! You are handling the adversity like MEN and we Love it! There will be some Big East losses this year, but get stronger and better. Brighter days are ahead!!!


What you've been through and are going through -

- Part of a reloaded roster (actually only half full do to circumstances!)
- A completely new team (99% of scoring gone??)
- 5 New Starters
- 3 top recruits not cleared by the NCAA even though they attended an accredited institution and did the work they thought they were supposed to do (Not close to this but this made no sense. Rules are rules, so I don't understand what happened here. This looks like a case of admin pencil pushers not know kids lives are at stake. If something is wrong with an institution (their summer school) it needs to be dealt with at that level, not with the kids. Makes me furious reading about what happened. I don't have the details, but this isn't passing the smell test.)
- Decommitments from Pelle and Sampson (hopefully Sampson is back in the fold, sad that Pelle won't make it if true; MAJOR props to Amir for toughing it out!!!)
- Lindsay leaving. Don't know the story here but wish he would have worked through the season. Losing a key cog on an undermanned team wasn't good. In the long run it may work out because Branch saw an opening (Welcome to the bright nights Mr. Branch!).
- Decommitments from Woods and Gathers. These hurt a lot but hopefully they come back to the fold. 2012 could still be VERY SPECIAL with you!
- Now, the big elephant in the room. Coach's health. The fact that coach's cancer has set him back from being on the sidelines is a HUGE hit. No one can deny it. It was reported during the season last year that the cancer was identified but doctor's were ok with him going through the season. Thanks Coach for giving it your all last year and giving last year's kids a ride to the NCAA's. Maybe to your own detriment?? To those judging his character I think they are full of it. I don't know the whole story but I'm sure he had options that would have taken him of the bench last season too. To say he doesn't care about his team is CRAZY in my mind. Some have questioned Coach's integrity. I think that is VERY UNFAIR. I think those who have been affected by cancer or know someone with cancer understand that it is very serious but can be managed very well with today's medical advancements. You can be diagnosed as going really well one second and can take a sudden 360 the next. He has excellent Doctors and that's all you can ask for in this situation. Coach is not the expert on Cancer, but has experts advising him. Am thankful that he has had a SUCCESSFUL surgery and hope to have him on the sideline's for the next 20 years. Plenty of Coach's, Friends and Family have been through this. It isn't easy, but it can be beaten. UCONN Coach Calhoun seems to be doing just fine and just got a national title to boot. Coach is on the recruiting trail continuing to build a team for his players, for St John's, for New York. 2012 is the year in my mind and I bet it is in his. Sure he can't wait to get on the sideline, whether it be at the end of this season or the beginning of next.

This has been a long diatribe, but just wanted to say thanks to the current and future team.
Click to expand...
 

Amen.
 
To the team,

This season has been a challenge on and off the court. Hang tight, New York Loves You! You are growing before our eyes and you will only get stronger every day!!! You are handling the adversity like MEN and we Love it! There will be some Big East losses this year, but get stronger and better. Brighter days are ahead!!!


Mike -

I could not agree more etc. A very fair and realistic post. I am very happy with losing with a talented young, brand new team; which coach could do ANY better after Lavin inherited ten years worth of mediocre and trouble???

The present and future is exciting and bright.

Here is a question I've been thinking about concerning the current group: "Who can we expect to develop into a 10-12 point per game kid (besides Harkless, Jarrison and God's)

Pointer?
Green?
Garrett?

thanks and a very on point post by Mike.

all the best 
Click to expand...
 
This was going to be a long, tough year with the young team. Not having Lavin coach and lead the team certainly will hurt as his leadership is invaluable. Intangibles such as a coach looking in a player's eyes in the huddle at the end on the game cannot be measured. On the other hand Lavin devoting his undivided time to recruiting and promoting the program could be the best thing that has happened since the Big East break up nearly destroyed the objectives of the team and all members. I believe this strategy is what is needed at this time and was probably a group decision. Recruits doubts needed to be addressed, and with the large coaching staff working on teaching, the team will improve and Lavin will do what he does best, while he continues to recover.
 
 I just hope that coach Lavin is out recruiting shooters in lieu of athletes. I am amazed at how many of this new class cannot consistently hit even a 10 foot jump shot no less a 3 pointer. 0-10 from 3 yesterday, are you kidding me. Our Athletes look great on highlight films when they get the opportunity for a breakaway dunk but these are always going to be few and far between in Big East games. If you can't hit a jumper or a 3 ball then you can never blow someone out nor have a serious chance at a come from behind win in Big East competition. From the names I see being recruited it appears to be more athletes, just hope there is room for a couple of shooters......
 
 I dont think the season is over yet. I can see this team making a run in february and in the BE tourney
 
To the team,

This season has been a challenge on and off the court. Hang tight, New York Loves You! You are growing before our eyes and you will only get stronger every day!!! You are handling the adversity like MEN and we Love it! There will be some Big East losses this year, but get stronger and better. Brighter days are ahead!!!


Mike -

I could not agree more etc. A very fair and realistic post. I am very happy with losing with a talented young, brand new team; which coach could do ANY better after Lavin inherited ten years worth of mediocre and trouble???

The present and future is exciting and bright.

Here is a question I've been thinking about concerning the current group: "Who can we expect to develop into a 10-12 point per game kid (besides Harkless, Jarrison and God's)

Pointer?
Green?
Garrett?

thanks and a very on point post by Mike.

all the best 
Click to expand...

Don't count Gift as a gimme for the 10-12 ppg group. Except for the 'quette game he hasn't done much since the BE season started.

Greene looked scared to shoot out there yesterday, teams are going to be sloughing off us until we develop somebody else to compliment DLo outside. I know Phil's been off lately but right now I think it may be playing games with his head as well.

I thought Dom and Amir had prettty good games yesterday, maybe not percentage-wise but they contributed and were the second and third leading scorers.  
Click to expand...
 
To the team,

This season has been a challenge on and off the court. Hang tight, New York Loves You! You are growing before our eyes and you will only get stronger every day!!! You are handling the adversity like MEN and we Love it! There will be some Big East losses this year, but get stronger and better. Brighter days are ahead!!!


What you've been through and are going through -

- Part of a reloaded roster (actually only half full do to circumstances!)
- A completely new team (99% of scoring gone??)
- 5 New Starters
- 3 top recruits not cleared by the NCAA even though they attended an accredited institution and did the work they thought they were supposed to do (Not close to this but this made no sense. Rules are rules, so I don't understand what happened here. This looks like a case of admin pencil pushers not know kids lives are at stake. If something is wrong with an institution (their summer school) it needs to be dealt with at that level, not with the kids. Makes me furious reading about what happened. I don't have the details, but this isn't passing the smell test.)
- Decommitments from Pelle and Sampson (hopefully Sampson is back in the fold, sad that Pelle won't make it if true; MAJOR props to Amir for toughing it out!!!)
- Lindsay leaving. Don't know the story here but wish he would have worked through the season. Losing a key cog on an undermanned team wasn't good. In the long run it may work out because Branch saw an opening (Welcome to the bright nights Mr. Branch!).
- Decommitments from Woods and Gathers. These hurt a lot but hopefully they come back to the fold. 2012 could still be VERY SPECIAL with you!
- Now, the big elephant in the room. Coach's health. The fact that coach's cancer has set him back from being on the sidelines is a HUGE hit. No one can deny it. It was reported during the season last year that the cancer was identified but doctor's were ok with him going through the season. Thanks Coach for giving it your all last year and giving last year's kids a ride to the NCAA's. Maybe to your own detriment?? To those judging his character I think they are full of it. I don't know the whole story but I'm sure he had options that would have taken him of the bench last season too. To say he doesn't care about his team is CRAZY in my mind. Some have questioned Coach's integrity. I think that is VERY UNFAIR. I think those who have been affected by cancer or know someone with cancer understand that it is very serious but can be managed very well with today's medical advancements. You can be diagnosed as going really well one second and can take a sudden 360 the next. He has excellent Doctors and that's all you can ask for in this situation. Coach is not the expert on Cancer, but has experts advising him. Am thankful that he has had a SUCCESSFUL surgery and hope to have him on the sideline's for the next 20 years. Plenty of Coach's, Friends and Family have been through this. It isn't easy, but it can be beaten. UCONN Coach Calhoun seems to be doing just fine and just got a national title to boot. Coach is on the recruiting trail continuing to build a team for his players, for St John's, for New York. 2012 is the year in my mind and I bet it is in his. Sure he can't wait to get on the sideline, whether it be at the end of this season or the beginning of next.

This has been a long diatribe, but just wanted to say thanks to the current and future team.
Click to expand...
 

Thank You, every st. john's fan should read this.
 
 I appreciate this teams character and hard work. All the PT everyone is getting now is going to pay dividends . I think the future looks good for our program and players.By adding Branch,a couple of the coveted bigs ,and a couple others next year to our fine core ,we have the potential to be really good. 
 
 Mike, terrific post! Thanks for articulating what has been on my mind. And I'm sure on the minds of many loyal fans and alumni.
 
To the team,

This season has been a challenge on and off the court. Hang tight, New York Loves You! You are growing before our eyes and you will only get stronger every day!!! You are handling the adversity like MEN and we Love it! There will be some Big East losses this year, but get stronger and better. Brighter days are ahead!!!


Mike -

I could not agree more etc. A very fair and realistic post. I am very happy with losing with a talented young, brand new team; which coach could do ANY better after Lavin inherited ten years worth of mediocre and trouble???

The present and future is exciting and bright.

Here is a question I've been thinking about concerning the current group: "Who can we expect to develop into a 10-12 point per game kid (besides Harkless, Jarrison and God's)

Pointer?
Green?
Garrett?

thanks and a very on point post by Mike.

all the best 
Click to expand...
 

Pointer absolutely will be a double digit scorer. He can get to the hoop and with some confidence can hit from short to mid-range.
Click to expand...
 
 Mike, this is a great post. As for scoring, I agree that Dom is on his way to double digits regularly. As Dunlap said earlier in the year, Dom will be the most improved by year end.

As for our shooting, I actually think we shoot pretty well from 10-15 feet, but don't seem to be taking many shots from there. Greene can hit the floaters from the top of the key, but hasn't even tried that shot the last few games. Not everything needs to be a 3 ball to soften the zones we're seeing. Go Johnnies !!!
 
 Mike, this is a great post. As for scoring, I agree that Dom is on his way to double digits regularly. As Dunlap said earlier in the year, Dom will be the most improved by year end.

As for our shooting, I actually think we shoot pretty well from 10-15 feet, but don't seem to be taking many shots from there. Greene can hit the floaters from the top of the key, but hasn't even tried that shot the last few games. Not everything needs to be a 3 ball to soften the zones we're seeing. Go Johnnies !!!
Click to expand...
 

I agree. Greene is a keeper but he's so gun shy right now he's hurting us. Hard to believe he had three threes etc. earlier. He's getting looks and harrison's getting mugged out there. This needs to be addressed ASAP.
 
 Most freshmen aren't real consistent shooters when they hit college. This year is a tremendous learning experience for this team. These kids are all talented. Time this year for Lavin to heal and build the roster and these kids to learn the system and get better. We have USF and Nova next. Both winnable games. These kids aren't giving up and neither am I. I like our guys. We just have limited resources this season.
 
Great post, Mike. The toughness these guys have shown is just awesome. They fight to the end and I'm sure that is something Dunlap stresses. When was the last time we had this many kids with so much defensive talent so committed to that part of the game? And we have a point regarded as the best of defender in his 2011 class joining the active roster in January.

As far as scoring, I think this team will be a run and gun team that averages 90 a game as early as next season. A team that gets many of its points created by defense, and even more in secondary transition in 5/4 on 4/3 or 4/3 on 3/2 situations. I think Harkless could see his points stay the same or fall a bit, but he'll be a bigger threat from three, as he is a very solid outside shooter.

Pointer and Garrett should be near 10 a game, but I think the third scorer will be a kid not on the roster yet--Sampson and/or Gathers. I expect Branch to an 8-10 point guy with a 6-7 assists--something this team desparately needs. Pointer and Garrett seem like players that are more within their respective games by making solid screens, passing the ball, playing intense defense, and taking only what they are given offensively.
 
As far as scoring, I think this team will be a run and gun team that averages 90 a game as early as next season.
Click to expand...
 

This season the highest scoring team is North Carolina (85.2 ppg).
The highest scoring Big East team is Syracuse (79.9 ppg).
Only one Lavin team (1997-98 UCLA) has averaged more than 80 ppg.
Our team is averaging 66.0 ppg.

With more depth and with players with more experience we will score more points next season but please, let´s be rational with the expectations.
 
As far as scoring, I think this team will be a run and gun team that averages 90 a game as early as next season.
Click to expand...
 

This season the highest scoring team is North Carolina (85.2 ppg).
The highest scoring Big East team is Syracuse (79.9 ppg).
Only one Lavin team (1997-98 UCLA) has averaged more than 80 ppg.
Our team is averaging 66.0 ppg.

With more depth and with players with more experience we will score more points next season but please, let´s be rational with the expectations.
Click to expand...
 

I agree, gonzalo. I could see them averaging 75-77 ppg next season.
 
As far as scoring, I think this team will be a run and gun team that averages 90 a game as early as next season.
Click to expand...
 

This season the highest scoring team is North Carolina (85.2 ppg).
The highest scoring Big East team is Syracuse (79.9 ppg).
Only one Lavin team (1997-98 UCLA) has averaged more than 80 ppg.
Our team is averaging 66.0 ppg.

With more depth and with players with more experience we will score more points next season but please, let´s be rational with the expectations.
Click to expand...
 

I didn't intend the literal use of the word average...my bad. I guess median or mode would have been better choices...which I think is very rational. I think most games will be a track meet, but there will be the occasonial opponent (e.g., Cincy) where the score will be in the 60's. I don't think we will score 120 a handful of times to even that out, but I do believe the overwhelming amount of our games will be in the 80's and 90's, with a few ex hitting triple digits.

When these kids are juniors the sheer length, athleticism, size, and depth of this team will just cripple many opponents. I think we start to see some of that next year when Branch hits the floor.
 
Lack of depth and a natural point guard hurt yesterday. Lots of criticism of the team going on, but people need to be patient.

Also, there has been a ton of criticism of the coaching staff too. They took a crew that had a highlighted post season in the CBA tournament and a loss to the Richmond Spiders in the First Round.

The next year they made it to the NCAA and a possible 5 seed if DJ didn't go down. That was a very thin team that had horrible chemistry, but eventually gelled on all cylinders. The kids in the current class have a TON of upside and Lavin is doing his best to bring the cavalry in next year. They are WARRIORS and I hope they all stick it out and make the city, their families, and themselves proud.

St John's plays in the toughest league in the country. Playing with half a deck of cards and going through the brutal Big East and the likes of Kentucky is no easy task.

The fans on this site are hardcore and want to team to win BADLY. This a GREAT Thing!!! Remember though, we live in a digital age and I am sure players and recruits read this site.

The pain the fans feels is nothing compared to what the players must be feeling. They are winners and hate to lose. You can see it in their no quit hustle.

I hope they keep their heads high.
 
 The players, like us fans have to be patient. Although our lack of depth and loosing more then we would like to is frustrating, the players are getting tons of experience. W the addition of Branch and reinforcements we are going to be tough next year and by their JR year are going to be downright nasty.
 
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